Friday, May 15, 2009

Bookworm

My mother's day was very sweet. I woke to a lovely vase of flowers on my dining room table, two cards from the girls, a beautiful painting from my oldest daughter and a gift card from Barnes & Nobles. And then, later in the day, my daughters treated me to a movie. A complete chickflick, "Ghost of Girlfriends Past". It was a great day.

I promptly hung the picture in my living room and yesterday, ventured out to B&N to spend my loot. I don't know why people say gift cards are so impersonal. They make me so happy. Unless it was a gift card to Wal-Mart, which even then, I could probably find something I needed or wanted. But for years I've been dropping hints at birthdays, Christmas, Mother's Day for a gift card to Barnes and Nobles. No one's obliged me. "So impersonal," they say. Oy-vey.

What could be more personal than walking around a beautiful store filled with books, drinking a delicious cup of Starbuck's brew, wondering what to buy? It doesn't get much more personal than that for me, folks.

I finally settled on two books that couldn't be more opposite. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Duma Key by Stephen King.

I've been wanting to read the first one for quite a while and I have to say, so far, it's wonderful and inspiring, to say the least. The second, what can I say? It's summer and time for a good ole' summer read. I haven't read much of Stephen King's work lately. When I was younger, I read everything I could get my hands on. I kind of outgrew his writing and the plots and the cheesy, over-the-top endings. But last year I picked up one of his books and was reminded that sometimes it's nice to read a book that you can't put down because the story grabs you, ridiculous or not. And I still think his characters are pretty three-dimensional. You love them or your hate them, but you can always see them so clearly.

I love Phillip Yancey! I think I'll pick that up this summer and I'm also thinking of reading the Twilight series. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Diahn read the first two and says Edward Cullen is her new boyfriend!

My girlfriend read them said she was surprised at how good they were. I am just looking for some common ground with K. Maybe you and I can read them this summer and start sending each other Twilight flair.